California Outdoors Q & A: Cherry Picking Crabs and Hunting the Wildlife Refuges vs Private Property Question: Recreational Dungeness crab fisherman often seem to hold onto crab in excess of their limit while they are still crabbing, then they cherry pick the best ones and throw back the extras after pulling all their pots. Is this legal? Say for example I'm fishing alone and...
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Question: For generations, our family has bought annual hunting and fishing licenses and then proudly saved each license over the years as collectable pieces of our family history. Why after so many years have you chosen to discontinue these traditional style licenses in favor of just computer printouts? Answer: While many may miss the traditional style licenses, this new computer system enables the Department of Fish...
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Question: More and more anglers are using hoop nets to "catch and release" bat rays and large sharks. The hoop nets are not being used for catching fish - the fish are hooked by rod and reel. Hoop nets are then used to pull big fish up onto the piers. The problem is that the smaller hoop nets are sometimes...
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Question: I run a six-pack charter boat business and we often hoop net for crab and lobster. My deck hands and I make money by cleaning our passengers catch. This includes both rock crab and lobster. We always wait until we make landfall before we tail the bugs. This year the new regulations say: (e) Spiny lobsters shall be kept...
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Question: I have picked up a number of empty abalone shells and pieces of shells from various beaches to use for making jewelry. It's obvious that they have been sitting in water empty for a while because the inside shows weathering from the saltwater. I know it is not legal for abalone divers to sell the meat or the shells of the abalone, but...
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Question: I see on many websites that you cannot take female Dungeness, but I see in the regs no comment about females. Have the rules changed now allowing females to be kept? (E.J. K.) Answer: Recreational fisherman may keep female Dungeness crab - commercial fishermen must throw them back. Since the females are often so much smaller and less meaty than the males,...
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